History of Przydruisk

The history of Przydruisk, located on the road from Polotsk to Dyneburg (Latvian: Daugavpils), is inextricably linked to Druja, or former Sapiezhyn, located on the other side of the Daugava River. The city consisted of three districts: the Old Town on the left bank of the Druja River, the right bank district or Sapiezhyn and Przydruisk on the opposite bank of the Dvina. Otton Hedemann, author of the book "Magdeburg City of Druja", published in Vilnius in 1934, writes about the establishment of Przydruisk in parallel with Sapiezhyn, describing it as "a kind of bridgehead and commercial link of the mother city in its relations with the right bank of the Livonian Dvina".

Przydruysk remained in the Sapiechs' hands until 1824, when it passed into the ownership of the Milosz family. Marek Głuszko mentions this fact in his article "Latvian traces in Czesław Miłosz's family":

"Among his ancestors Czeslaw Milosz mentions Józef Milosz, born probably around 1790. This Josef Milosz left his native land near Kėdainiai and took up service as a court official (estate manager) at the Sapieha princely residence in Drua on the Daugava River. This is the moment when the Miłosz line split into two separate ones: Lithuanian, as Józef Miłosz's brothers remained in Serbinia, and Belarusian. The Sapiehs were forced by the tsarist authorities to sell their estates (according to family tradition, they refused to swear loyalty to the tsar). A significant part of the Druzhskoe estate (30,000 hectares) was purchased by this Józef Miłosz, who had previously managed it. Thus, from 1824, the Milosz family became the owners of a sizable estate, the main centres of which were Druja and Chereja. The estate also extended to the other, Kurland side of the Dvina, including Przydrujsk (Lat. Piedruja)'.

Among the historical monuments preserved in the town, we should mention first of all the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the brick Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas, built at the expense of the Russian authorities in 1885 on the site of a wooden Uniate church founded by the Sapiehs.

Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Przydruisk

The Baroque Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Przydruisk is a single-nave church with a façade flanked by two towers on the west side. It is surrounded by a fence with a high gate. On the church's side, chapels on an oval ground plan are situated in the four corners. According to Jozef Krzywicki, it was a church "erected at the expense of Karol Karp, canon of Vilnius, and consecrated in 1760 by the local dean; [...]. The Catholic parish was established here at the beginning of the 17th century, when there was no church in Drua or Sapie¿yna yet, as can be seen from the church visits of 1832 and 1835, according to which the governor of Vilnius and Grand Hetman of Lithuania founded a wooden church in P. before 1633 and endowed it with a considerable land fund. One of the bells is engraved with the year 1619. In the book of the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary there is a copy of the indult of 17 July 1727 granted by Pope Benedict XIII at the installation of the confraternity. Benedict XIII granted, in which the church is called a parish church" (J.Krz [J. Krzywicki], Przydrujsk, in: Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, t. XI, Warszawa 1888, p. 208).

The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary suffered during the First World War. Among other things, the helmets on the towers were destroyed during the warfare. After the end of the war, Przydruisk remained outside the borders of the Republic of Poland and found itself on the territory of independent Latvia. The church was restored through the efforts of the acting parish priest, Fr Bronislaw Stefanowicz (1876-1940). His grave is located next to the church.

On 5 August 1940, Latvia was formally incorporated into the USSR as the Latvian SSR. After the Second World War, however, the church was still active and remains so today, when Przydrujsk - Piedruja is again within the borders of the sovereign Latvian state. During this time, only minor, necessary repairs were carried out, making the current state of preservation of the entire building less than ideal. During the makeshift repairs, the walls of the church, both inside and outside, were repainted with lime paints, and the altars and pulpit with oil paints. The entire interior of the church required a conservation survey. This was essential when planning conservation work in the church, which is a very valuable reminder of the historical and artistic heritage of the former Republic.

Conservation work

The first stage of the project, which was to assess the state of preservation of the painting in the main altar of the church, as well as the other elements of the furnishings, was carried out in 2014 on behalf of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. First of all, the temple's presbytery was identified, where a valuable al fresco painted architectural retable, imitating an altar set, is located on the eastern wall. Its authorship is attributed to Kazimir Antoshevsky, an artist who worked in the north-eastern region of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the early 1880s to the early 19th century, specialising in illusionistic wall paintings. The central fresco features a secondary image of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, painted in oil on canvas. The top of the altar is decorated with a fresco depicting the Holy Trinity and two pairs of angels among the clouds, as well as a Marian hierogram.

The conservation work on the main altar fresco was entrusted to an experienced team of Polish conservators comprising Tomasz Dziurawiec and Agnieszka Chojkowska-Sawicka, who have been working in nearby Kraslaw for several years on the restoration of Filippo Castaldi's frescoes in St Louis Church. Funds to carry out the restoration work were obtained by the Polish Cultural Heritage Foundation as part of the competition Cooperation with Poles and Poles Abroad (in 2015 coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and since 2016 by the Polish Senate). It is planned to complete the full conservation of the main altarpiece in 2017.